What Percentage Of a Lap Is Your Car At Full Throttle?

So I've decided we need some useless trivia today.

I was going through some video of my last race at Buttonwillow and I figured out that my Datsun is full throttle for 80% of a lap. 

I knew it took a long time to get down the straights but man that's brutal.

Not enough, that's why I'm slow. Alternatively, too much, and if I'd lift slightly (and actually used decent tires instead of heat-cycled out ones) I might not be spinning tires the whole way around the track.

I mean, you paid for all the throttle, so why not use all the throttle?

On the road course at Memphis International Raceway (now closed) I could rest a little, maybe have a snack on the long straight before turn one in the Miata. After that, If I wasn't on the brakes it was on the floor. Edit: Now that I remember, the turn before the "M" was supposed to be flat out for a Miata but my brain never let me do it. I always let up a little.

In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :

I spend 32 seconds at full throttle down Buttonwillow's back straight.

Let me know if there's a data analysis tool that shows this in a quick & easy way and I can feed some data logs into it and find out, I can even post numbers for a couple different cars.

Just checked if I have a data log file for the supercar track day I did in a Radical SR3, only the video with data overlay unfortunately...

A lap of CMP in the G35 took 1:57. Of that time, the car spent around 66 seconds at WOT. The rest was part throttle or in the brakes. 

Just tried a manual count on my best Radical SR3 lap and I was at full throttle for only about 21.5sec out of a nearly 1:13 lap on a small twisty course. But that was my first time with that car and track layout, and I was being extra careful after spinning it in the first turn of the day by going up to 25~50% throttle too quickly. I also lost out on a little full-throttle time due to a failed shift from low air tank pressure.

Edit: So that's 34%

About 38% of PittRace.

Seemed like 99% in my Mini at Heartland Park but I know I had to let off and hit the brakes a couple of times. The fun thing about a Mini is that it's so poor aerodynamically that letting off is the same as hitting the brakes. It's a momentum car, and you only get said momentum with your foot on the floor!

Dirt oval so it's a little different, but the year I won the mini stock championship, the track conditions were so good and predictable, the car was set up so well, and I was in the zone all year. The answer is 100%.

I would come in to the corner, give the wheel a brief pull to the left, the car would set sideways and I'd counter steer through gradually straightening up as I exited, and I'd never lift. In a 25 lap feature I'd be wide open for a little more than eight minutes.

Road America, Rio is WOT for at least 80%. Wish I had real data to back that up. Most tracks whenever you're not transitioning to or braking, you're WOT. 

Fun!  I pulled a random lap in my Spec. Miata at the 14 turn 1.7 mile road coarse at Sandia and it looks like I was full throttle for 71% of a 1:34.678 lap.  That lap was about two seconds off the pace.

I either need more spare time for this or a better way to calculate it if I'm going to look at more laps, cars or tracks.

Back in the early 90s SCCA allowed us to run the Phoenix mile. I ran it in my H-Prod Fiat 850. Once I got myself and the car dialed in to running an oval it was full throttle all the way around. If I had more I could have used that too.

bobzilla said:

Road America, Rio is WOT for at least 80%. Wish I had real data to back that up. Most tracks whenever you're not transitioning to or braking, you're WOT. 

It felt like 80% at Nelson Ledges with a 100hp RX-7.  My maintenance throttle was the carpet.  I would get passed by Spec Miatas on the back stretch, where I'd be able to shift to 4th.  Then a lift at maybe 120ish before the Kink, because the braking zone after was a hair too short to manage taking the Kink at full tilt, then through the next two corners at 60ish, then WOT in 3rd gear again. 

All those long sweepers were 80-90mph with the tires I had at the time, and even at WOT it was slowing down mid corner so I just took whatever line let me manage my momentum the best.

In reply to L5wolvesf :

PIR and an 850 is practically and a land speed record attempt.

I counted about 37 seconds of full throttle on this 1:47ish lap, which is WOT about 35% of the time. And this was a pretty well-done lap, the only thing I'd do different next time is stay in 3rd through the downhill-left going into the middle twisties  (turn 6):

I don't have data but...

We have a power limited 85whp car with a turbo. If you mat the throttle just before you let off the brakes the turbo may begin to spool as you're tracking out to "the line." That means I keep the "thingy to the floor" whenever I'm not full on the brakes. CMP is the track I race most often, so I'll run the numbers for it. The track is ~12000 feet long and I brake less than ~1000 feet of it, but let's say I'm not completely accurate so we'll say 1000 feet. That means that I'm WOT 91.6% of the distance of the lap.

Now for an even lower-powered car, I counted about 35.5sec of WOT on this 1:22ish lap, which is about 43% of time at WOT:

In reply to GameboyRMH :

You have no idea what underpowered is. LOL

On a 2:26 lap I am full throttle for 1:54.

Also I exit the corner onto the backstretch at 60-65mph and after 32 seconds at full throttle I reach 102mph.

APEowner said:

Fun!  I pulled a random lap in my Spec. Miata at the 14 turn 1.7 mile road coarse at Sandia and it looks like I was full throttle for 71% of a 1:34.678 lap.  That lap was about two seconds off the pace.

I either need more spare time for this or a better way to calculate it if I'm going to look at more laps, cars or tracks.

If you have a data system, you can do it with math channels.

According to AIM, a month ago I was at WOT for 60% of the lap at Buttonwillow with config 14A (sweeper, phil hill, no bus stop, and "A" section), but only 50% at config 13A (same as 14A except using the bus stop).

Thunderhill east w/ bypass was 64%.

Not enough, not enough.

I'm getting better at mid and corner exit but that last fifty yards before a turn still get me.  

Targa Miata at our local track - maybe 10-15%? Lots of power, not enough straight :) I have some telemetry with a turbo Miata, I'll see if I can find it. It definitely requires sensitivity.

Same track with the CRX, considerably more. 

Tom1200 said:

In reply to L5wolvesf :

PIR and an 850 is practically and a land speed record attempt.

I believe it was a track record for HP. I don't recall anyone else at that race  . You might be able to guess the make model of car that broke "my" record.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

RA Carousel I was WOT just able to maintain 80.